Network driver support in Kernel

[suhaskhare]

Hello,

We are trying to deploy a server via pxe boot and kickstart, but we are facing a problem with network card driver. Our server is Dell R520 and Network Card is Broadcom 5720 Dual Port 1Gb. We tried using netboot files from below locations:

http://repo.cloudlinux.com/cloudlinux/6.2/install/x86_64/images/

http://repo.cloudlinux.com/cloudlinux/6.3/install/x86_64/images/

On the other hand, if we try to install Centos 6 same way, it works. Clearly Centos 6 kernel has a driver for this specific NIC but CL kernel doesn have yet. (While deploying CL 6, post pxe boot, it says network device is not found, and there is no driver for our NIC in available network card list it shows later on).

Can you please update kernel and initrd files in above URLs with support for Broadcom 5720 Dual Port 1Gb card?

Thanks,

[lkanter]

Hello,
Its strange because we have exactly the same version of tg3 driver in our kernel as CentOS. Please provide lines for this network card from "lspci -v" output.

[prateek.n]

Hey Leonid,

I am posting on behalf of suhas..
[SPAN]lspci -v |grep -i ether[/SPAN]
[SPAN]02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5720 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe[/SPAN]
[SPAN]02:00.1 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5720 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe[/SPAN]

[suhaskhare]

Hello Admin,

Can we have any update on this ?

Thanks,

[lkanter]

Hello,
please use command lspci -v |grep -i ether -A1
Output should look like this
09:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5752 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02)
Subsystem: Dell Latitude D620
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 46
Memory at ecef0000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
Expansion ROM at [disabled]
Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [50] Vital Product Data
Capabilities: [58] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/8 Maskable- 64bit+
Capabilities: [d0] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
Capabilities: [13c] Virtual Channel
Kernel driver in use: tg3

Could you provide access to this server? If yes - create ticket on helpdesk.cloudlinux.com or send me login credentials to lkanter@cloudlinux.com

[suhaskhare]

Hello,

To elaborate further, the output given to you by Prateek is from a Centos OS. As we said earlier, because of the network driver problem we are not able to install Cloudlinux 6.

Further, we are using this kernel specifically for pxeboot environment.

http://repo.cloudlinux.com/cloudlinux/6.3/install/x86_64/isolinux/

As you said, the Cloudlinux 6 kernel provided with kernel rpm might have the respective driver.. But its the pxe kernel that is provided in above link thats missing the required driver..

We can open a ticket if you still want to have access to our Centos Server with same hardware configuration. Let us know.

[suhaskhare]

And here is the output you wanted from centos 5 machine with the same hardware config.

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5720 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe

Subsystem: Dell Device 04f6

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 177

Memory at d90a0000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=64K]

Memory at d90b0000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=64K]

Memory at d90c0000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=64K]

Expansion ROM at dd000000 [disabled] [size=256K]

Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 3

Capabilities: [50] Vital Product Data

Capabilities: [58] MSI: Enable- Count=1/8 Maskable- 64bit+

Capabilities: [a0] MSI-X: Enable+ Count=17 Masked-

Capabilities: [ac] Express Endpoint, MSI 00

Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting

Capabilities: [13c] Device Serial Number 00-00-90-b1-1c-0c-0e-dc

Capabilities: [150] Power Budgeting <?>

Capabilities: [160] Virtual Channel

Capabilities: [230] Transaction Processing Hints

Kernel driver in use: tg3

Kernel modules: tg3

[lkanter]

Hello,
I verified that tg3 module is present on initrd http://repo.cloudlinux.com/cloudlinu...nux/initrd.img, relative path is
lib/modules/2.6.32-320.17.1.lve1.1.7.2.el6.x86_64/kernel/drivers/net/tg3.ko.gz

on CentOS 6.3 relative path is
lib/modules/2.6.32-279.el6.x86_64/kernel/drivers/net/tg3.ko.gz

tg3 driver version is the same. Problem could be in your pxe server configuration. We will try to reproduce this issue on a device with BCM5752 NIC.

[lkanter]

Are you able to provide screenshot with pxe installation error?

[suhaskhare]

Here is the screeshot you requested.

A correction to my initial post.

In a select driver, the driver name "Broadcom Tigon3 ethernet driver" appears in the list. But when I select it, it takes me back to the same step as in screenshot. It may sound like something wrong with the server hardware itself but here is the thing. We have tried this with Centos 5 installation same way, and it worked on the same server. Furthermore this error can be replicated on multiple servers having same hardware config. If we try other config server (R510 with Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme II BCM5716 Gigabit Ethernet), same cloudlinux pxe environment works.

So if we narrow down the problem, its Cloudlinux 6 pxe enviornment + Dell R520 (Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5720 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe) combination that is giving us the problem.

Thanks.
http://i50.tinypic.com/n3nms3.jpg

[lkanter]

If you switch to other virtual console on this stage by pressing alt-2, alt-3, alt-4 - are there any error messages?

[suhaskhare]

No relevant error as such.. here are the screen shots.

http://i46.tinypic.com/23lfrdh.jpg

http://i47.tinypic.com/jzdzc3.jpg

[suhaskhare]

Were you able to reproduce the error?